jimbob17 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2024 11:10 pm
Really really good display today. It was as good a championship display as we have had in a few years I think so full credit to all involved. I've been critical (fairly) in the past across earlier parts of the league. We can say Laois were poor but they topped Div 4 comfortably and were expecting to win today. We totally outplayed them and credit to all involved for that. To be honest, I was shocked how poor they were but that wasnt our problem - we made them look poor.
Fantastic display Offaly were full value for their winning margin. Offaly played with intensity and pace their work rate was immense and I would say kilometres covered will in the high end.
To a man the all shoulder the load . Forward work very well with and without ball and I think one of the winning factors was that our forwards were always a threat and this didn’t allow Laois to settle and build momentum in attack. Earlier in the league we had a tendency to bring out some of our forwards to do work that out centre field could do and this in turn crowed out out attacking options. But yesterday this was a different approach and our middle third area really prospered.
A Laois team that got the div4 final was this a factor with fatigue or did Offaly just totally outplay them, the truth is probably a bit of both. But I was very impressed with our speed of thought and action and our running plays with dummy runs opening up space it was a joy to watch. .
Our team was very fresh and energetic yesterday and management got our fitness and energy spot on , some of our previous game while we were fit we were heavy legged due to possible training too hard on match week.
A few observations
I was very concerned about mismatch with our size in the backs, while Laois couldn’t get their attack going I was afraid if Kingston and Carroll got proper supply I wasn’t sure if we could hold them out, anyway Kingston was subbed later in the game . Also the Laois goalie was allowed to come out and created an extra player, this was our undoing against Clare. This was a great concern yesterday and I feel Offaly needed to do whatever it takes to keep the goalie at home especially when we had an extra man , we lost a big lead against Clare because we were unable to deal with this .
Also when we opened up a gap in the second half we retreated back and allowed Laois run at us this is a mistake we have allowed to happen in previous games and it has cost us dearly and it doesn’t do anything for building confidence in our team. When we pushed up we had the beat inf of Laois and yesterday we allowed them possession and oxygen from the crowd to hurt us .
Our next game Dublin
Dublin whole system is work rate end of story and everything is at pace work , work . Work , expect free kickouts all to happen within three seconds. This is to inflect attrition on their opponent and then they have the numbers they want up the field to allow the shooter to drop into pockets for their shots. Death by a thousand shots and if Offaly are not careful we will be just looking at shadows. Offaly need to be very sharp and also very fresh , they need to our work Dublin , Dublins mantra is work, work , and the don’t carry passengers no sentiments extend to big name players. I am concerned about our physical size and where possible we go to play to our strengths when we have the ball , move the ball fast into open field and avoid 50/50 tussles.
Let’s bring a work rate to compete and what ever happens happen.
The foundation for all as I see it was we simply out worked them, and then on the ball, we had much better footballers than they did. Our forwards worked really hard tackling and that was the key. Rather than just run back to our own half like we did at times in league, our forwards engaged them in their own half when it was on and we got a couple of scores off it - including the decisive goal early in 2nd half. Keith O Neill had his best game to date for Offaly both with and without the ball.
We deserved to be 4 or 5 up at HT and the goal was a bit sloppy to give away.
We were a lot more mobile than them even though they were physically much bigger on average. Pearson and Dempsey got up and down the pitch and i'd say their forwards were killed from having to go after them. The same is true of Cormac Egan and Furlong, while Cunningham and Hogan made forays from 6 and 3 also.
Our midfield and half forward line worked extremely hard and all of them played well. Eoin Carroll had his best game this year by a distance and likes of Hayes, Hyland and Ruairi Mc benefitted from having a very mobile half back line coming up in support with them. Our speed in these areas hurt them on plenty of occasions.
We finally kept a forward in opposition half or high up pitch more consistently and as a result, we often had an out ball to break fast when we turned over the ball after good tackling. The Hayes goal which was really well taken was a great example of this and Bryant did well in first half in this role.
Off the bench, we got good energy and to be fair, management made some good calls here. Cathal Flynn for Jack Bryant really worked out well. Jack had played his part and did well but Flynn posed different questions and was more suited to us when playing against 14 men as he played in middle third and helped make extra man count. He found pockets of space and really hurt them at times. Rory Egan too brought huge energy and could easily have finished with 1-1.
Hyland is a huge loss if out for the next day so hopefully he recovers. It will be a big ask but a good learning experience for a young team. Lots of this team have beaten Dublin at underage levels and this will stand to us and hopefully we go out and get as close to them as we can -however we do that is not important I think for that one. I wouldnt fully park the bus but we need to be defensively sound when playing Dublin in Croke Park.
The referee was very poor on both sides I thought and there were 3 cards (2 yellow and a red) that most definitely were not such offences - incl the Laois red card - where i think he swung elbow back and caught Hyland without really looking at what he was doing. Cunninghams card was ridiculous and I think Hylands was harsh too, even if it was definitely a free. Hopefully we get a different referee the next day....
sure I haven't been at a game since 82 
nothing only negativity since the draw was made.
